u/nawzyah wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Hi Michael, thanks for the blunt advice so far. I’m looking for your take on "re-entry" strategy. I was a 2018 Lambda grad, landed a Fintech role via their partnerships team, and moved from Technical Solutions Engineer to SWE within a year. I touched everything from SDKs to hard
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Hmm it's tough but I would frame it as personal project/exploration time, or a personal break. It depends on exactly what you did and how it all relates. If you have projects during that time you can generally list them.
The leveling will depend on the company and how they level. I advise to apply to entry and mid level and let the companies figure it out.
And if you still have some expertise in fintech the average person doesn't then it's a legal up at companies like Stripe and Intuit.
You might want to check out Gauntlet AI which is Lambda School reincarnated for the second time, with less puffery and more transparency: if you have like a 130+ IQ then you can probably get in and do 16 hours a day of AI :P
Their cohort starts Monday.